The partnership between Menntaskólinn of Reykjavík (MR) and Hersleb vgs. of Oslo onsets a long-term cooperation that will give the students and school staff the opportunity to develop new social and professional skills. This collaboration aims to give the participants the unique experience to come into contact with cultural, social and methodical differences in education between both countries. Iceland and Norway differ strongly in geology. Therefore, this collaboration attaches importance to complementing the geology education program. The main focus will be towards climate change, geological resources and geoscientific research. These three topics will emphasize the challenges faced in a changing climate and environment. Hereby we want to encourage the students to become more responsible towards and aware of environmental issues. The students will be challenged to think and learn actively about ways to conserve the earth in a durable way. Furthermore, this project may engage in furthering the recruitment of geology education in schools and universities.

Besides the mentioned differences above, both schools differ strongly with respect to the cultural composition.  In contrast to the more homogeneous composition in MR Hersleb houses a large proportion of students with an ethnic origin differing from Norwegian. Through language and culture, openness, teamwork across nationalities and new friendships the participants’ understanding and tolerance towards other cultures will increase. The students will hereby broaden their horizons and develop a European and even a global approach of thinking. This will enable them to participate in social and political debates concerning Europe and the European Union. Making contact with new cultures will raise the students' interest in foreign cultures, which in return will help to decrease prejudice and prevent racism among the participants.

The collaboration will further strengthen the teaching profession in both methodical and practical ways through the exchange and the development of new learning and teaching methods. The main focus of change lays on active teaching in the field. The fieldwork will be organized in a way that the students will receive the role of guides for the visiting students. 

The area near Reykjavik explains numerous physical phenomena involved in geoscience competences. Through fieldwork the Norwegian participants achieve a unique approach to the theory of plate tectonics, sea floor spreading, hotspots, volcanism, younger igneous rocks, natural disasters, glaciers and natural resources such as geothermal energy. For Menntaskólinn the cooperation with Norway has a more "historical” interest. Iceland's oldest rocks are namely "only" 20 million years old, while near Oslo a 1.2 billion year old bedrock consisting of gneiss is found. The road up to Kolsåstoppen is a walk through 250 million years of geological history. Oslo Field forms a model in geology with its number of distinctive rocks and fossils. Students will take part in the "Fossil project in Tøyenparken" which is a road cut with fossils unearthed by students at Hersleb vgs. The project is a collaboration with the Natural History Museum.

The collaboration centres on lifelong learning and the development and sharing of good teaching and assessment  of practices. It will therefore be important that participants develop positive attitudes and grow into an internationalization project. Through geosciences with focus on alternative energy sources and sustainable resource utilization the students will be challenged to think critically and participate in discussions. The result of the project will be presented and shared through a dedicated project website and eTwinning. The website will also act as a kind of blog where students can share articles, reports and other relevant materials. Other social media like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram can be additionally used to present the project work. As the students will have to present their research in a formal way, they will learn to improve their professional English language skills, besides the English language skills obtained during informal activities.

It is desirable that this project will set up a long-term cooperation that will live on also after the EU grant. Over a three-year period we hope to have built up a strong and sustainable contact that endures after the EU funding has ended. The partnership may continue through online contact, and will be further developed through the eTwinning Portal. We envisage in the future to link to us a new partner which has a different climate and a different geology than Norway and Iceland, that could help to complement and develop the project.